The Hunter and The Healer

Chapter 4: The Revelation

Alani pov
I tried the next cottage, and the next, and the one after that. They were all empty. I walked to the last door on the street, leaving a trail of crimson on the ground behind me. The throbbing in my shoulder amplified with each step I took. But I was there.

I shoved the door open, and there she was. Cora stood in the corner, her eyes wide, holding the knife I had given her for emergencies so tightly her knuckles turned white. When she saw it was me, she sagged with relief, and her tension eased. I closed the door behind me.

Then she really looked at me.

Blood coated my arm and hands from both Harmon's wound and mine. My eyes were half-closed and I swayed from blood loss. Her eyes widened when she spotted the gash across my shoulder.

I leaned on the wall for support as Cora rushed to another room. I lost a lot of blood. I was exhausted. My vision blurred for a moment, and then refocused. The ceiling was getting higher. No, I was sliding down the wall. I wasn't thinking clearly. It was like a mist covered my thoughts. I knew we had to leave, but I didn't know why.

Cora came back with her backpack slung over her shoulder. That was good. I barely remembered why she had it, but if she grabbed it now then she knew we had to leave. Good, good.

She set it down beside me. No, no, we had to go now. Why was she untying it? It was already packed; all we had to do was run. She took out a small medical kit that we kept for emergencies. My eyes bulged. Was she hurt? Had something happened to her? Then she placed it beside me and crouched at my side. Had I been lying down?

She took a knife and cut the cloth from over the wound on my shoulder. A sharp stab of pain cleared the fog from my head for a moment. I grabbed Cora's hand as she was cleaning the wound and, with great difficulty, sat up. I felt the freezing floor beneath me and shivered. But I remembered what was happening.

Harmon knew our location. He was one of the guards. He could come back at any second with reinforcements. And The Directorate had supplied the guards with pistols. We weren't safe here.

"Get up, kiddo. We have to leave, now." I murmured as I tried to stand. "They know where we are. We need to go, Cora!"

She didn't move from her spot on the floor. She only glared at me. I didn't understand her reaction.

"Cora. We're in danger. What's wrong? Why aren't you- GAH!" I accidentally placed my weight on my arm. It buckled underneath me and I was lying on the ground again, spots dancing across my vision.

"I need you to stay still for a second so I can clean this." Cora gestured at the bloody slice across my shoulder. How was she so calm?

"What?" That's what this was about? I fought to keep the fog from my mind. "You can clean it later. I promise I'll let you heal me when we're somewhere safe."

She started shaking her head before I finished talking. "It has to be cleaned now. It might get infected on the way-"

"Cora, the guards have guns-"

"-and if you don't die from the infection you'll die from blood loss."

She didn't seem fazed with the idea of pistols. And I wasn't going to let the guards have a chance of finding us just to heal a wound. I'd survived plenty, and I would survive this.

"I'll be fine Cora. We have to go now, please." I never had to ask her like this. She was stubborn, but she never contradicted me in these situations.

She wouldn't budge. She crossed her arms and threatened, "The more you fight me, the more time we lose. I am not leaving here until the wound is cleaned properly." I knew that she won. It was pointless arguing with her when she was like this.